Root and Bairstow lead England to thrilling 3-0 whitewash over New Zealand

England completed a seven wicket win over New Zealand in the third and final Test of the series at Headingley, with Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow guiding them to victory

England have wrapped up a stunning 3-0 series whitewash over World Test Champions New Zealand, getting off to a perfect start under the new coach and captain combination of Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes.

Having taken over a team that had won just one of their last 17 Test matches, McCullum and Stokes have got England winning again while also playing a much more positive brand of cricket. McCullum has spoken of his desire to make Test cricket “sexy”, while Stokes has said England are “in the entertainment business not the sporting business”.

And England have certainly delivered some truly thrilling cricket against New Zealand, successfully chasing down totals of 277, 299 and 296 to win Test matches at Lord’s, Trent Bridge and now Headingley.

After resuming on day five needing a further 113 runs to win, it seemed almost inevitable that England would comfortably win the match. New Zealand did make an early breakthrough when Tim Southee bowled Ollie Pope for 82 with the fifth ball of the day, producing a brilliant delivery that cut back and knocked over his off-stump.

However, any hopes New Zealand had of quickly running through England and bowling them out were quickly dashed by another brutal masterclass from Jonny Bairstow. After a string of low scores in his first three innings in the series, Bairstow has completely dominated, striking two outrageous hundreds and an unbeaten 71 off just 44 balls.

On day five, he scored the second-fastest Test fifty by an Englishman off just 30 balls, sharing a 111-run partnership with Joe Root to guide England to an emphatic seven-wicket victory. Root ended up unbeaten on 86, with Bairstow’s quick-fire knock denying him the chance to score a 28th Test century.

Overall, it has been an excellent series for England, who will now turn their attention to a much stiffer Test in the form of India. England will enter that one-off Test full of confidence and with a number of players full of confidence.

Established stars like Root, Bairstow, Anderson and Broad delivered for the new regime, but more importantly some fringe players have also stepped up. Pope was backed to bat at three by McCullum and Stokes despite never having done so in first-class cricket before and responded with his first Test century in England in the win at Trent Bridge.

Spinner Jack Leach responded to outside pressure from Moeen Ali reversing his Test retirement by taking ten wickets in the match at Headingley and looks full of confidence under Stokes. Matthew Potts, meanwhile, only made his debut due to a variety of fitness issues which left nine seamers on the sidelines and proceeded to pick up 14 wickets at 23.28 in the series – only Trent Boult was more successful.

Most notably, England scored their runs at 4.54 an over this series, the second-fastest rate in a series of three Tests or more. The ‘Bazball’ brand of cricket may not always be successful, but there is no doubt that it will produce some truly brilliant performances.